1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fingerprint authentication, and more particularly to a method of fast activating a mobile device from a sleep mode based on fingerprint authentication.
2. Description of Related Art
A fingerprint sensor has been commonly used in a mobile device such as a mobile phone to capture a digital image of a fingerprint pattern. The captured digital image is then processed to create a biometric template (also known as a golden template) that is stored and used for matching. Accordingly, individuals operating the mobile device may be identified and their identity or access approval be verified. Compared with conventional user authentication schemes using passwords, the fingerprint authentication provides more convenient and faster means.
Due to limited and precious battery power of the mobile devices, sleep mode is adopted to save significantly on power consumption, in stead of leaving the mobile devices fully on all the time. When resumed (i.e., wake up), the operation of the mobile devices continues from the same point it leaves.
However, conventional mobile devices equipped with fingerprint authentication suffer slowness and power waste when resuming from a sleep mode, owing to time-consuming matching between a captured fingerprint image and a fingerprint golden template. Therefore, a need has thus arisen to propose a novel method and device of activating a mobile device from a sleep mode in a fast manner.